How to Effectively Solve the Dilemma of Peasant or Citizen Identity

Recently, a survey on "The Living Conditions of the New Generation of Migrant Workers in Shenzhen" conducted by the Shenzhen Municipal Federation of Trade Unions shows that most of the new generation of migrant workers in Shenzhen have no farming experience and rarely return to the countryside even once a year. They long for urban life and are full of confidence in the future. However, the countryside is no longer a place they can return to, and the city is difficult to integrate into, which has created a problem of identity for many migrant worker groups.

It can be said that "the countryside is no longer a place to return to, and the city is difficult to integrate into" is an unavoidable problem in the process of urbanisation. This not only leaves the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers unable to be effectively protected, which violates social fairness and justice, but also gives rise to social problems such as the separation between migrant workers and urban residents, thereby affecting the overall situation of social harmony.

To be fair, the reason migrant workers have this awkward identity problem is not that they are unwilling to return to the countryside, and certainly not that they are unwilling to integrate into the city. From the rural perspective, although most rural areas in our country have undergone earth-shaking changes, land income is limited, modern agriculture has not yet taken shape, and the environment for returning home to find employment or start a business is still being improved. Even if migrant workers want to return to the countryside, they are constrained by the reality of survival and ultimately choose to go to the city to work. From the urban perspective, the urban-rural dual structure still shackles the steps of migrant workers trying to integrate into the city. Problems in medical care, elderly care, and education arising from the household registration barrier keep migrant workers perpetually outside the urban social security system.

The introduction of policies such as the "Opinions on Supporting Migrant Workers and Other Personnel in Returning Home to Start Businesses" has provided specific institutional design for the survival and development of migrant workers. We also look forward to the rapid removal of the institutional obstacles that cause migrant workers to face the situation of "the countryside is no longer a place to return to, and the city is difficult to integrate into," so that the question of identity, "peasant or citizen," will no longer be a problem.